


Do Not Disturb

by tocasia



Series: Our Shining Past [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: AU, Betrayal, Dark, Gen, Sephiroth and Zack friendship, anti-fluff, canon-typical ellipses abuse, when is a story over?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-07 00:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11047521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tocasia/pseuds/tocasia
Summary: Sephiroth wants to be left alone.  Zack should have listened.  Even Zack's loyalty has its limits.(63. wings, do not disturb) for Seph&Zack Friendship 100 Themes





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying something different with chapters. When is a story over?
> 
> "It all depends on how much you know." - Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

Zack is apprehensive as he waits in the elevator. This morning he received a message from Hojo telling him to come to the lab, even though he doesn't have an appointment scheduled. He steps off on the proper floor and finds the proper room.

"Thank you for coming, Fair." Hojo's voice is as greasy as his hair.

"Why did you want to meet me here?"

"Sephiroth asked me to tell you, in person, confidentially and seriously, not to disturb him today. He actually said please." Hojo puts some emphasis on that last bit.

Zack is worried about some lab test gone wrong. "What did you do?"

"Nothing like that. Sephiroth just asked me to tell you."

"Was it an order?"

Hojo sounds a little uncertain. "Not exactly, but...."

"Did he say why?"

"No."

"I call bullshit. I'm going to go make sure he's okay."

Hojo calls after him to wait, but Zack has already left.

* * *

Zack goes up to Sephiroth's apartment and knocks softly on the door. There's no answer.

"Seph? Are you in there? Are you alright? Hojo said...."

"He said... for you not to seek me out. I asked him to tell you. Why are you here?"

"I was worried."

"Ha! Worried? About me? You should know better. We can talk about this later. Go away, Zack. Let me be alone."

"Something's not right." Zack tries to open the door. It's locked.

"Don't." It's a clear warning, an order that doesn't need to be made official.

"Will you at least tell me why?"

No answer.

"Okay, I trust you. I'll come back and check later, okay?"

No answer.

Well, Zack thinks, maybe it is nothing after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha wouldn't that be funny if it just ended there? oh yes it would


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> or it could go the way you were expecting it to, right?

Still concerned, Zack comes back to the apartment in the evening to check on Sephiroth. He's about to knock when an urgent desire to flee suddenly overcomes him. He staggers back, startled and shaking. Where did that feeling of dread come from? It's just a door. There's nothing scary about a door... is there? But he knows that if he touches the handle, it will burn him. He is absolutely certain, more sure of that than he's ever been of anything in his life.

"Seph? Are you in there? Are you okay?"

No answer.

"Okay, something seriously strange is going on here. I think you should let me in. Maybe I can help."

No answer.

Zack reaches for the door, bracing for the pain he knows will come when he touches it. It will _burn_ , hotter than the fires of hell, his hand will melt, he will turn to ash.... He _Should Not_ open that door. He backs away again, involuntarily.

Zack shakes his head to clear his thoughts. He is no coward. Something is wrong. Sephiroth probably needs his help. He will not leave. He will defy the fear. He's going to break the door down.

_Don't._

Did he hear that, or was he just remembering from before?

"Seph, did you say something?"

No answer.

"Seph, stand back, I'm coming in."

Zack draws the Buster Sword and hacks the door apart, reducing the strong wood to splinters. It was just a regular door, after all.

Zack looks through the jagged arch of the doorway into the black, freezing abyss that is Sephiroth's apartment. It's normally cold and dark in there, but this is extreme. Even with his Mako-enhanced vision, Zack can't see anything. He flicks the light switch by the door. Blinded by the sudden brightness, he has to blink a few times before he can make sense of his surroundings. All the furniture is in the right place, just like he remembers. He scans the room quickly, looking for anything wrong.

Sephiroth is on the couch, curled up under a white fuzzy blanket, asleep.

Zack doubts that Sephiroth would sleep through the noise of the door being destroyed. _But he looks so peaceful, maybe I shouldn't wake him. See? everything is fine. You can go now. Don't worry about the door._

They are not his own thoughts.

"Seph! Wake up!"

Sephiroth opens his eyes.

* * *

 

Zack had the honor of seeing Ultima cast once in Wutai. A bright, deep green; the screaming lifeblood of the Planet used as a weapon. Sephiroth's eyes look like that.

_Run. run. there's no shame in it. get away, away. Run!_

No. Zack meets Sephiroth's gaze. He stands his ground.

But not for long, because the ground falls away suddenly. He is suspended in the air several feet above the floor. Zack struggles to get down, or even look away or speak. He can't move at all.

Sephiroth rises from his place on the couch. Something about the motion is odd. Zack realizes Sephiroth isn't standing up, he's unfolding wings... White, feathery wings, which he doesn't need to flap to stay aloft... and he's coming towards Zack, and his right arm, well, it's not an arm anymore, it's another wing, black, and sharp, deadly sharp... He stops right in front of Zack, so close, hovering.

**You should have obeyed me when I told you to leave.**

Sephiroth's lips don't move, but Zack hears his voice clearly. He stares down at Zack with terrifying intensity.

**How selfish of you. I wonder.... Did you forget?**

Zack's world becomes only pain. He sees only white. He remembers only this:

* * *

 

The sun has just gone down and the evening chorus of insects has begun. Zack and Sephiroth sit next to a campfire near their tents in Wutai. The breeze blows the smoke back in their faces.

Sephiroth says, "Sergeant Bryant died today."

"How did he die?" Zack asks.

"An explosion. The medics didn't recognize him at first because of the burns."

"I'll miss him. There was that time in Junon when he was drilling the newer recruits, teaching them how to march on parade and do some special moves. One of them dropped his gun and stiffened, expecting a harsh reprimand for the mistake. But Bryant was lenient that once, and at the end of the day they were laughing together. Still professional, of course."

Sephiroth nods, solemnly. "He was a good SOLDIER."

"Yes, he was."

The wind picks up, but the fire doesn't go out. Sephiroth says, almost a whisper, "You will promise me something."

Zack coughs from the smoke. "Sure. What is it?"

"You will never be the one who dies."

"Seph... no one can keep a promise like that."

"You will, though. Because...."

Zack opens his mouth to argue, but Sephiroth continues. "If you die, the world dies with you."

* * *

 

The pain fades away as the vivid memory does. Zack is back in Sephiroth's apartment, still held immobile. Sephiroth smiles down at him with unearthly serenity. He hears Sephiroth's voice again, in his mind.

**Good. Now you remember what will happen.**

Zack can't speak, so he thinks back at Sephiroth, "I thought you just meant that you would grieve for me."

**I meant exactly what I said, Zack. Only... I never expected that I would be the one to kill you.**

"What? No! Why?" He tries again to free himself, but he remains suspended in the air, helpless.

**Disobeying my orders during wartime is treason. You know the penalty for treason.**

"The war is over! I have never betrayed you, Sephiroth!" Zack puts as much strength into the thought as he possibly can.

Sephiroth leans closer. Zack cannot escape his eyes, the green of life promising death. Sephiroth's face remains impassive. Then, the moment of impact. Sharp, deadly sharp, piercing, unstoppable. Cold rips a path all the way through his body and out his back. Impaled, still frozen in the air, Zack cannot writhe against it. He cannot gasp or look down to confirm the instrument of his demise. He can only see Sephiroth's smile, as Zack hears him say, actually speak this time, for the first time this evening and for the last time, the last time....

"Traitor."

Sephiroth pulls back with a twist, opening the wound, which now remembers to bleed. Blood, Zack's own blood, across Sephiroth's face, staining the silver strands of his hair red. Pain gives way to shock as Sephiroth releases him. He falls to the ground on his knees. A white feather brushes against his cheek. Soft.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that could be the end, or...


	3. Chapter 3

Apparently, heaven is cold and dark. There is something fundamentally unfair about that. He's all alone, floating in space... No, not floating, gravity isn't the one who died. Zack, that's him, is lying down on his back. He's breathing, which means he must be alive. So he can open his eyes, maybe.

Yes, he can.

A high ceiling above. He's in a place, on a bed. The darkness is less, illuminated by a pale green shine from across the room.

"Welcome back."

Zack screams the way he couldn't before.

* * *

 

"Shhh, shhh, it's alright now."

Nothing would ever be alright again.

"Can you talk?"

Zack doesn't want to answer that voice, but he wants to know for himself.

It seems that he can, if only quietly. "You. You killed me!"

"Yes." Sephiroth's tone is flat, no sorrow, no apology, nothing.

"But you revived me."

"Yes." Sephiroth sounds amused.

"How? I thought...."

"It wasn't the sword." Just a reply to a question, as if someone had asked Sephiroth, "How was your day?" instead.

The black wing, then. Sharp, deadly sharp. Sephiroth had killed him with the wing. And he was talking about it so casually....

"You will recover soon, which is a relief." If Sephiroth is actually sincere, Zack doesn't trust it.

"Recover? From this? Ha! You're insane!"

Sephiroth sounds remorseful now. "I wanted to keep you safe! When I tried to compel you to retreat, you broke down the door. When I tried to make it seem like everything was fine so you didn't need to, you still stayed. Why did you have to be so brave?"

"Because you were my friend! You said you'd burn down the world if I died. Did you even think about how I'd feel if you died first? I wasn't going to let that happen! I thought you needed help! I was worried about you!"

Sephiroth doesn't say anything for a long time. When he does, it is gentle. "Please, next time I ask it of you, let me be alone."

"You won't ever have to ask again."

Sephiroth understands what Zack means, and leaves the room without another word.

 


End file.
